1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a ski boot composed of a shell base beneath an upper journalled on the shell base, and whose portion situated in the zone of the heel comprises en oblong slot which cooperates with a support abutment positioned on the shell base, a latching element being adapted to obstruct the slot to block the upper relative to pivoting.
2. Description of Background and Material Information
A boot of this type is described in French Patent application 2,682,859. According to this document, the support abutment, attached on the shell base, is constituted by a fixed portion and a movable portion adjustable and positioned by means of manual control means interacting between the two portions of the abutment; as a function of the spacing of these portions, defined by the control means, the support abutment in its entirety occupies more or less the oblong slot and proportionally limits the possible back and forth movement of the slut with respect to it, and thus the flexional possibilities of the upper. In this type of boot there is likewise provided that, in a position of maximum spacing of the movable portion of the abutment from that which is fixed, that the oblong slot can be totally occupied by these portions of the abutment so as to block the upper growth as much with respect to frontward flexion as well as rearward flexion. The movable portion of the abutment associated with its control means thus constitutes the latching element strictly speaking of the upper, and allows, selectively, for the modification of the flexibility of the upper in amplitude; as a result of this construction, the flexibility which may be given to the upper is essentially a function of the maximum displacement which the control means can produce, end this, within the strict limit of the length of the oblong slot. Such limitations prove troublesome because, to take advantage both of a substantial possibility of flexion and a blockage position, it is necessary to simultaneously provide a large slot end control means capable of producing a substantial displacement of the movable portion of the abutment. In fact, there cannot be independence of construction between the means adapted to assure the blockage function and those adapted to define the amplitude of flexion of the upper.
Still within the same document, it is provided that the support abutment is affixed in a movable fashion on the shell base, by means of a screw, and can be positioned at will over one or more orifices provided in the shell base concentrically to the journal axis of the upper. These orifices are provided at a distance from one another for a certain angular value defining, each one, an advancement angle of the upper. As a result of such a construction the adjustment of the advancement angle cannot be performed until after the support abutment has been taken apart in its entirety then repositioned in the appropriate orifice, which is tedious to perform. In effect, in the present case, the extraction of the liner or of the interior comfort padding is necessary in order to reach the screw which is accessible only from the interior of the boot, the portion of the support abutment accessible from the exterior being previously occupied by the manipulation element of the control means of the movable portion of the support abutment.
Finally, if utilizing such an adjustable support abutment in an oblong slot provides a blockage position or a possibility of flexion of the upper to a predefined amplitude, it is not provided with a shock absorption element adapted to progressively brake this flexion, and the activation of such an element appears random. In effect, the fixed and movable portions of the support abutment each serve as a stop element at the corresponding end of the oblong slot, it is not designed to interpose a shock absorption element between it and the ends of the oblong slot without adversely affecting the quality of latching of the upper when the abutment is brought to the blockage position.